Summary Twin-engine designs provide a balance of safety, performance, and efficiency for modern aircraft. ETOPS has expanded opportunities for twin-engine aircraft by ensuring safety on long flights. Twin-engine jets are designed based on two distinct configurations for both business and commercial operations.
Manufacturers have found a perfect balance between flight safety, performance, and efficiency in a twin-engine aircraft design. On the one hand, two engines are better than one in terms of safety through redundancy. On the other hand, the emergence of Extended Range Twin Operations approval (ETOPS) has enabled the use of twin engines as opposed to three or four engines.
ETOPS are safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that permit twin-engine aircraft to operate over a route containing a point further than one hour of flying time at the approved one-engine inoperative cruise speed. The early days The early days of aviation saw abundant single-engine aircraft, primarily due to power requirements. Most small airplanes featured a single turboprop in the front of the aircraft, being solely responsible for generating the required power.
In April 1941, the German fighter prototype, Heinkel He 280, became the first official twin-engine aircraft to take to the skies. The aircraft featured a pair of Heinkel HeS 8 axial-flow turbojet engines. In 1954, Cessna built the first twin-engine private jet, the four-seat Model 310.
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